Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a management system, a control method in the management system, and a storage medium thereof, and in particular, relates to a system that manages a setting value (configuration data) for switching the operations of an image forming apparatus at collective management.
Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, there is an image forming apparatus that stores a setting value (configuration data) for switching the operations of the image forming apparatus. The setting changes in configuration data need to be made by the number of image forming apparatuses in order to change the configuration data for all of the image forming apparatuses because the configuration data is stored in a storage unit provided in each of the image forming apparatuses.
For saving the time relating to the settings, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2007-130838 discloses a technique for managing the configuration data at collective management. Specifically, the settings of configuration data for a plurality of image forming apparatuses are made at collective management by a certain information processing apparatus, and the configuration data is disposed at a place capable of referring to a network, and the plurality of image forming apparatuses refer the configuration data, whereby the management is performed at collective management. In addition, a technique is disclosed whereby a certain image forming apparatus that has performed the change notifies a server of the changed content about the change of the configuration data performed by the certain image forming apparatus, and the other image forming apparatuses receive the changed content, whereby the configuration data is synchronized in the plurality of image forming apparatuses.
However, in the Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2007-130838, an inconsistency may occur to the configuration data between the certain image forming apparatus and other image forming apparatuses, if a configuration data group that is recorded in a USB memory or the like is imported to the certain image forming apparatus. Specifically, a plurality of configuration data relating to other image forming apparatuses are applied at different timings by continuously notifying the server of the configuration data that is changed by the import. In this case, the setting of the image forming apparatus may become an unintended state. In addition, if the setting change contrary to the import data in other image forming apparatuses is performed during performing the import or before the import data is applied, the setting of the image forming apparatus may become an unintended state.